Vestas closed the UK's only wind turbine blade factories, on the Isle of Wight, in August 2009. Workers occupied the factory, then picketed. This blog is a history of that dispute and of the ongoing campaign for green jobs.

Vestas workers’ great reception at TUC conference; Miliband heckled

Vestas workers visiting the TUC conference in Liverpool this week have had a great reception. But you wouldn’t know, from this report in the Guardian, that Ed Miliband, Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, who addressed the conference was heckled by Vestas workers.

Here’s a – cynical or fair? – take on Ed Miliband’s speech at the TUC by City diarist Martin Waller in the Times:

In the blue corner: Ed Miliband

“The world’s biggest wind turbine blades will be made in Britain!” trumpeted the Department of Energy and Climate Change yesterday. “Cutting edge offshore turbines bigger than the Blackpool Tower!” One would have to be hugely cynical to point out three entirely unconnected facts, but here goes.

One, Ed Miliband, who made the announcement, is in Liverpool facing the Brothers and, the Energy Secretary knew beforehand, protests by sacked workers from the Vestas turbine factory on the Isle of Wight.

Two, the announcement of these planet-saving mega-turbines has been made already, but hey, you can’t have too much good news. Three, it’s mega-turbine, no plural. The contract from the Crown Estate is for one prototype, from the AIM-listed Clipper Wind Power. Note the headline use of the plural “blades”, three of them, as is usual for a wind turbine — singular.

And, even more fortuitously, the prototype will be built on Tyneside, new Labour’s heartland. By contrast, those benighted Isle of Wighters tend to vote Conservative. Still, it might have got Miliband out of a fix at the TUC in Liverpool. And that’s all that counts.

Categories

What we're fighting for

Vestas Blades UK made production workers at their factories on the Isle of Wight redundant on 12 August 2009. More than 500 jobs were lost. Many more jobs that depend on Vestas will follow. This makes no sense from a green or a labour perspective!

At the same time, the government announced a major expansion of renewable energy including wind power. We are calling on the government to intervene to save jobs at companies like Vestas - through nationalisation if that is what it takes - to show that it is serious about saving the planet.

Actions & meetings

Wednesday 17 February

NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT 7pm, Save Our Services public meeting, called by Unison, but open to all who want to campaign against the proposed cuts to council and all jobs and services. Venue: Hunnyhill Room, The Riverside Centre, The Quay, Newport, Isle of Wight.